TSA, union reach deal on labor agreement

Aug. 2, 2012 - 11:07AM
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The Transportation Security Administration and its union struck a deal Thursday for the agency's first collective bargaining agreement. Here, a TSA agent instructs travelers on going through security lines in November 2010 at Pittsburgh International Airport. (Jeff Swensen / Getty Images)

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The Transportation Security Administration and its union struck a deal Thursday for the agency’s first collective bargaining agreement.

The American Federation of Government Employees did not release details on the contract. AFGE said it will submit the agreement to TSA’s 45,000 bargaining unit employees for ratification in the next few weeks.

AFGE said it began negotiating the contract in January and finished it in “a marathon bargaining session” that ended at 3 a.m. Thursday.

TSA screeners narrowly chose AFGE over its rival, the National Treasury Employees Union, by 456 votes in an election last June.

TSA Administrator John Pistole granted limited collective bargaining rights to screeners in February 2011, but he said he would not allow unions to bargain over security issues.